We are saddened to hear that another tragic death has occurred on the streets of Cambridge and our thoughts go out to the family of Meng Jin, a BU graduate student, who was killed by a driver while biking near the Museum of Science this morning. We cannot imagine the pain and grief that the victim’s family will be dealing with soon and for the rest of their lives. Our hearts go out to them.
Since 2015, at least ten people have been struck and killed while biking or walking in our city. That includes 4 people killed this year alone. The status quo is unacceptable and our residents deserve safe streets on which to walk, bike, and drive.
The City of Cambridge has a bicycle plan which calls for safe, protected bicycle facilities on O’Brien Highway as part of a citywide network of 20 miles of protected bike lanes. Yet, at the current pace of implementation, it will be over 30 years before this network is complete.
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We call on the City of Cambridge to commit to completing its planned network of safe, protected bike lanes within 5 years, starting immediately.
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We call on Cambridge, Boston and MassDOT/DCR to work together to implement safe and improved bicycling facilities on all major commuting corridors connecting our communities.
We must all work together to implement changes to our streets which will improve safety for everyone and avoid tragedies like this in the future.
Note: the statement was reflected to include the name of bicyclists, Meng Jin.